SE Conference considers alternate ferry management
CRAIG - The Southeast Conference is exploring ways to turn management of the state-run ferry system over to an authority or a board of directors.
The conference of local government and business leaders from Southeast Alaska spent much of Tuesday discussing significant changes to the Alaska Marine Highway System. About 225 people are attending the group's annual meeting in Craig this week.
Members of the organization's Transportation Committee forwarded a resolution that calls for drafting new legislation to restructure the ferry system. The AMHS is managed by the state Department of Transportation.
The conference's full membership will consider the issue Thursday.
The Southeast Conference isn't in favor of privatizing the ferry system and the resolution doesn't specify a new management structure, according to Transportation Committee Co-chairman Dave Kensinger of Petersburg.
"It sets a committee working on different options for legislation for restructuring the Alaska Marine Highway System," he said. "What we'll be doing over the next few months is looking at what we feel are the proposals from the region."
The committee has been discussing a model based on the state Board of Fisheries, a port authority setup or just a formal community input process, Kensinger said.
"We hate to use the words 'port authority' because everyone seems to think that means we're taking the ferry system out of state management when all it does is it just changes the type of structure to manage," he said.
Under an authority, a board would select the ferry system's management team and would interact with the state Legislature, Kensinger said.
The summer's ferry schedule in Southeast Alaska was in jeopardy until the final days of the legislative session when lawmakers came through with unexpected funding, committee members said. The system hasn't responded well to repeated requests by communities to be more involved in scheduling and other operational issues, Kensinger said.
Skagway City Manager Bob Ward said the issue is tied to funding. He likened a change in management without addressing the system's fiscal situation to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
"It seems to be our history that we're always struggling for funding," he said.
Bob Doll, Southeast regional director at the state Department of Transportation, urged conference members to be "extremely critical" as they considered ferry management alternatives. A new entity separated from the rest of the DOT could make the battle for funding more difficult, he said.
"What I'm worried about is being diluted," he said. "I think there are people in the executive and legislative branches who would be happy to seize upon the logic that they no longer have to be primarily responsible for the marine highway system."
From the department's perspective, more community involvement in decision-making is feasible, Doll said.
"Ultimately some difficult choices are going to have to be made and we need a way to make those choices," he said. "But as far as giving them a greater role, I think we could manage that."
The Transportation Committee's recommendation was tied in part to a study commissioned by Southeast Conference. The organization is planning a more detailed follow-up to the study.
Republican candidate for governor and U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski told the organization on Tuesday he supports a board-of-directors approach to the ferry system. Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, his Democratic opponent, said she is willing to talk about restructuring ideas, but warned against "change for change's sake."